


A Blonde, a Brunette, and ... Two Redheads?

by Merfilly



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-17
Updated: 2011-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-13 17:58:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1235806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate take on the Birds plus H & Q</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Blonde, a Brunette, and ... Two Redheads?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mammothluv](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mammothluv/gifts).



Dinah flopped heavily into the chair beside the banks of computers currently serving as Oracle's database and communication hub.

"Planning to get permanent any time soon?" she asked, idly and with a hint of teasing in her voice.

"I wouldn't be doing this if my operatives had managed to get the drop on the bad guys before my place got trashed," Barbara replied in a overly-sweet voice.

"Not my fault. I was out there being Black Canary, Girl Hostage, remember?"

"Which, in turn, led to _me_ not being home to keep them from trashing the place," Barbara pointed out, before laughing. "Okay, yes, we need a stronger base to work from; I get that. But do you know how hard it is to get the right location, the right bandwidth capability, and everything else needed to run this kind of outfit?"

"Maybe if you flirt your way through to the Batwoman's heart you'll find out she's a sexy billionaire like the Batman himself," Dinah offered, teasing slyly.

"DINAH! I was not flirting!"

"No? Looked that way to me," Dinah pressed. "Seemed to look that way to the Question, too, or I misread her."

"I don't flirt," Barbara pouted.

"Sure. And Gotham birdies don't get tied up every other week around here," Dinah countered.

`~`~`~`~`

"What was that?" Renee finally asked, thinking she was keeping her tone to concerned comrade rather than jealous ex-girlfriend. By the look on Kate's face, she had failed mightily.

"By 'that', you mean where I was making nice enough with the person who can pull down the entire Justice League, Justice Society, and Teen Titans in one call if she wants? Or, how about, the person who can make our lives living hells if she ever decides she doesn't like us?"

"Mmmm, yeah, that," Renee offered lamely. They'd had the talk about who the woman had to be on the way back to the flat. After all, Zinda wasn't so hard to miss, if you had any knowledge of history, and Black Canary was out as a hero and in people's faces on a regular enough schedule to make it easy to guess who the girl in the chair had to be. "Did you have to be so... good at it?"

Kate threw her head back and laughed at the tone of voice, then shook her head. "You really don't have the right to talk, the room to say it, or the tact to handle this talk, so goodnight, good-bye, and call me when you get rid of that green monster on your shoulder." She swept up her domino and wig and cowl, outfitting as Renee stewed silently, before sweeping out of the low-rent apartment and back to her life.

`~`~`~`~`

_The night before_

"Huntress, you are going to have to handle them on your own...yes, call her if you need to. I have my hands full!" The redhead shifted her attention from the brunette back to the netbook she had jury-rigged to be a homing device. Damn Black Canary for never keeping her jewelry online throughout the mission. Especially as it meant Oracle was actually on the ground, being nominally 'pushed' by Zinda in casual clothes, as they looked. The netbook had a weak fix, but it needed to be within a certain radius to work at all.

"Our Nun is not keeping her panties out of a twist tonight?" Zinda asked quietly.

"We've got to find Canary. Huntress has assets to leverage for protecting home base."

"Even if she's not much on those assets lately," Zinda snickered, getting an exasperated sound from her boss. "Sorry."

"Turn east here..." Oracle said.

"That's an alley, Boss-lady, and while I know you can protect us both, I'm not so keen on inviting a mugging just to prove it."

A resounding 'thunk' into a wall reached both their ears, and they exchanged a look.

"Yeah, you're right. Have to go help the hapless citizen," Zinda said though Oracle had said nothing. The lady in the chair closed the netbook most of the way, and took over full control of the chair, as Zinda led the way into the alley, where they expected to see a mugging in progress...

...and instead got a view of a costumed and dangerous redhead with a brunette wearing no face putting a handful of thugs down for a nap. The last one fell and the pair both turned to see the newcomers, leading to a silent stare-off. Even Oracle would admit that it was creepy to stare at a faceless person like that, and wondered why Batman had never gone that route under the cowl.

"Right...we'll just keep moving our way, and you two go yours," Oracle said, though she had to admit a part of her twitched to be letting them be without at least finding out what case they were working.

"Good idea," the faceless one said, and there was a hint of familiarity in the voice, but only a hint, and Oracle was too focused on her quest to keep a team member alive to chase it down when her phonographic ear would recall it later.

"Kind of a late night for a stroll in very bad parts," the cowled, masked Batwoman pointed out.

"Amazing what a lady will do for a date," Oracle quipped, before pushing the screen up a little to see where to go next. She gave a slight nod in the right direction, and Zinda took up the supposed 'pushing' again, even if the handles on the chair were strictly there for the disguising purpose of providing cover like this. 

Batwoman and Question let them pass on by, and then took to a discreet follow, because even in Gotham, that was very strange.

`~`~`~`~`

"Date, huh?" Batwoman's question preceded a body flying through the window into the yard. Oracle had to blush at the tone, but she applied an escrima to make that one stay out since he'd landed near her wheels.

"What's a date without working up a little bit of a sweat?" Oracle countered.

"Complete with a bondage act?" Batwoman retorted.

"Don't judge," Oracle told her as the noises of the fight told her that Black Canary was free. "And cover your ears."

"Who's judging?" Batwoman said with a wink tossed her way before doing as told, in time for everyone else in the house to be deafened... including Question who had not heard the warning, but excluding Zinda -- who was wearing her plugs -- as she used the Colt to make the bad-guys nervous. "Maybe I'm hitting up for a date too," she continued when the after-effects died away.

"I'll have to keep that in mind," Oracle said, as Black Canary and Zinda appeared from inside the house, Question draped between them as she fought the effects of being dizzied by a head blow and deafened by Black Canary's cry.

"The Fat Lady sung," Zinda said with a grin. "Ow!"

"Watch who you call fat, pretty pilot," Black Canary said sweetly, having pinched her hard.

"I suppose that means the date's over," Batwoman told Oracle. "Shame. I was very intrigued by the bondage part." She went and retrieved her partner, though, and took off with the aid of a decel line, which left the other two Birds to stare at the blushing Oracle.

"Huntress, tell me good news," Oracle said, discomfited and trying to hide it.

There was a long pause, and then, "The house didn't burn down?" was all that was offered as good news.


End file.
